Zach Brock (born August 2, 1974, in Lexington) is an American jazz violinist and composer. He has been a member of Snarky Puppy since 2007 and has worked with Stanley Clarke, Phil Markowitz, and Dave Liebman, as well as leading his own groups.
Early life
Brock was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. His parents, Dan and Jenny Brock, were active in the local music scene and met as members of the Lexington Singers. His education began early with Montessori School, and he started learning violin through the Suzuki method. He graduated from Bryan Station High School in 1992 before attending Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where he majored in Violin Performance as pupil of Dr. Myron Kartman. At Northwestern he met Erin Harper who later became his wife and the mother of their twin daughters.
As stated in the title of one of his albums, Brock's musical career, "Almost Never Was." During his sophomore year at Northwestern, while bicycling through a busy intersection, he was struck by a hit-and-run driver. Bystanders rushed to prevent him being hit again, since he was unable to stand or walk. He suffered compound-complex fractures of the femur, fibula, and tibia of his left leg, with the patella shattered into eight pieces. More than three years of surgeries and rehabilitation from the accident set back his formal studies. However, while Northwestern did not then offer a course of study for jazz violin, Brock was allowed to audit jazz classes while completing his degree. Despite the delay, he graduated in 1999.
Zach Brock (left) with his trio “Brock – Lanzetti – Ogawa” performing live on November 7, 2025, at the Palais Montcalm concert hall in Quebec City, Canada: Zach Brock (4- and 6-string violin), Keita Ogawa (drums and percussion), Bob Lanzetti (acoustic and electric guitar).
Career
Brock began performing professionally and recording while still a student at Northwestern, His first recordings were with the band Spazztet which also featured guitarist Aaron Weistrop. The band's first album Beautiful Impatience was later reissued under Spazztet and Weistrop's name and their second album Silent Films was released as Spazztet. For several years after the turn of the century, Brock led and recorded with his quartet, Zach Brock and the Coffee Achievers, releasing three albums between 2003 and 2007.
Around 2008 Brock became a member of two different bands with which he continues to be associated. He has recorded with Matt Ulery's Loom based in Chicago on seven albums. He was on three albums with Snarky Puppy, then working in and from Dallas and on the verge of international stardom. He departed Snarky Puppy in 2011 for other projects, including touring with Stanley Clarke, but he returned to the band in 2016 and continues to be one of now Brooklyn-based band's most frequent performers, including on two of the band's Grammy Award winning albums.
In addition to his other activities, Brock was a Boyer Artist-in-Residence at Temple University in Philadelphia and remains as an adjunct faculty member at The New School in New York City. Additionally, in early 2026, Brock joined the Oberlin Conservatory faculty as an Associate Professor of Multi-Genre Performance and Improvisation, while also making the world premiere of his orchestral suite "What Remains" with the Lexington Chamber Orchestra, venue in the Centenary Church on May 9, 2026.
Awards and honours
2002 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Participant
2005 Dave Douglas Jazz Workshop in Performance Participant, Carnegie Hall
↑"Zach Brock Almost Never Was". Northwestern Magazine/Northwestern University. Spring 2015. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
